Robert Drost
Encyclopedia
Robert Drost is an American
computer scientist
. He was born in 1970 in New York City.
and M.S.
in Electrical Engineering
from Stanford University
. In 2001 he earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science
from Stanford. As of 2011 he is a holder of over 95 patents in microelectronics
.
Until 2010, Drost was a Distinguished Engineer and Senior Director of Advanced Hardware at Sun Microsystems
. He led the early efforts on a high-speed chip I/O technology called Proximity communication, which replaces wires by capacitive coupling
, promising significant increase in communications speed between chips in an electronic system and reduced energy consumption, latency, and system size.
I. Shubin, E.M. Chow, J. Cunningham, D. DeBruyker, C. Chua, B. Cheng, J. Knights, K. Sahasrabuddhe, Y. Luo, A. Chow, J. Simons, A. Krishnamoorthy, R. Hopkins, R. Drost,
R. Ho, D. Douglas, J. Mitchell, "Novel Packaging with Rematable Spring Interconnect Chips for MCMs," to appear in 2009 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC2009), May 2009.
T. Sze, M. Giere, B. Guenin, N. Nettleton, D. Popovic, R. Drost, R. Hopkins, R. Ho, S. Bezuk, "Proximity interconnect flip-chip package with micron chip-to-chip alignment tolerances," to appear in 2009 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC2009), May 2009.
A. Chow, R. Hopkins, R. Drost, R. Ho, "Enabling Technologies for Multi-Chip Integration using Proximity Communication," 5th Annual IEEE Int'l Symposium on VLSI Design, Automation, and Test (VLSI-DAT2009), April 2009.
A. Chow, D. Hopkins, R. Drost, R. Ho, “Exploiting capacitance in high-performance computer systems,” IEEE Int'l Symposium on VLSI Design, Automation and Test, pp. 23–25, Apr. 2008.
A. Chow, D. Hopkins, R. Ho, R. Drost, “Measuring 6D Chip Alignment in Multi-Chip Packages,” IEEE Conference on Sensors, pp. 1307–1310, Oct. 2007.
X. Zheng, J. Lexau, J. Bergey, J.E. Cunningham, R. Ho, R. Drost, A.V. Krishnamoorthy, “Optical Transceiver Chips Based on Co-Integration of Capacitively Coupled Proximity Interconnects and VCSELs,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 19:7, pp. 453–5, Apr. 2007.
J. Lexau, X. Zheng, J. Bergey, A. Krishnamoorthy, R. Ho, R. Drost, J. Cunningham, “CMOS Integration of Capacitive, Optical, and Electrical Interconnects,” Proceedings of the International Interconnect Technology Conference, June 2007.
F. Liu, R. Ho, R. Drost, S. Fairbanks, “On-chip samplers for test and debug of asynchronous circuits,” IEEE International Symposium on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems, pp. 153–162, March 2007.
R. Ho, T. Ono, F. Liu, R. Hopkins, A. Chow, R. Drost, “High-Speed and Low-Energy Capacitively-Driven On-Chip Wires,” IEEE Int'l Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 412–3, Feb. 2007.
D. Hopkins, A. Chow, R. Bosnyak, B. Coates, J. Ebergen, S. Fairbanks, J. Gainsley, R. Ho, J. Lexau, F. Liu, T. Ono, J. Schauer, I. Sutherland, R. Drost, “Circuit Techniques to Enable 430Gb/s/mm2 Proximity Communication,” IEEE Int'l Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 368–9, Feb. 2007.
R. Drost, C. Forrest, B. Guenin, R. Ho, A.V. Krishnamoorthy, D. Cohen, J.E. Cunningham, B. Tourancheau, A. Zingher, A. Chow, G. Lauterbach, I. Sutherland, “Challenges in building a flat-bandwidth memory hierarchy for a large-scale computer with Proximity Communication,” High Performance Interconnects Symposium, pp. 13–22, Aug. 2005.
R. Drost, B. Wooley, “An 8-Gbps/pin Simultaneously Bidirectional Transceiver in 0.35-micron CMOS,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, pp. 1894–1908, Nov. 2004.
R. Drost, R. D. Hopkins, R. Ho, I. Sutherland, “Proximity Communication,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, pp. 1529–35, Sept. 2004.
A. V. Krishnamoorthy, D. Huang, T. Sze, R. Drost, R. Ho, H. L. Davidson and R. Lytel, "Challenges and Potentials for Multi-Terabit-Per-Second Optical Transceivers," Optical Interconnects and VLSI Photonics Conference, IEEE LEOS, June 2004.
R. Drost, "Proximity Communication," 3D Architectures for Semiconductor Integration and Packaging conference, RTI International Technology Venture Forum, Apr. 2004.
R. Ho, J. Gainsley, R. Drost, “Long Wires and Asynchronous Control,” IEEE Asynchronous Circuits and Systems Symposium, Apr. 2004.
R. Drost, R. Ho, R. D. Hopkins, I. Sutherland, “Electronic Alignment for Proximity Communication,” IEEE Int'l Solid-State Circuits Conference, Feb. 2004.
R. Drost, R. D. Hopkins, I. Sutherland, “Proximity Communications,” IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, pp. 469–472, Sept. 2003.
H. Hatamkhani, K-L. J. Wong, R. Drost, C-K. K. Yang, “A 10-mW 3.6-Gbps I/O Transmitter,” IEEE VLSI Circuits Symposium, pp. 97–98, June 2003.
W. Coates, R. Drost, “Congestion and Starvation Detection in Ripple FIFOs,” IEEE Asynchronous Circuits and Systems Symposium, pp. 36–45, May 2003.
S. Bardwaj, S.S. Mohan, R. Drost, B.T. Khuri-Yakub, K. Saraswat, “In-situ Film Thickness and Temperature Monitoring Using a 2 GHz Acoustic Phase Measurement System,” IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 965–967, Dec. 1991.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
. He was born in 1970 in New York City.
Sun Microsystems
Drost joined Sun Microsystems in 1993 after obtaining a B.S.Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
and M.S.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. In 2001 he earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from Stanford. As of 2011 he is a holder of over 95 patents in microelectronics
Microelectronics
Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...
.
Until 2010, Drost was a Distinguished Engineer and Senior Director of Advanced Hardware at Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
. He led the early efforts on a high-speed chip I/O technology called Proximity communication, which replaces wires by capacitive coupling
Capacitive coupling
In electronics, capacitive coupling is the transfer of energy within an electrical network by means of the capacitance between circuit nodes. This coupling can have an intentional or accidental effect...
, promising significant increase in communications speed between chips in an electronic system and reduced energy consumption, latency, and system size.
Distinctions
- Awarded Best Paper at Supercomputing 2008, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis.
- Named to the MITMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Technology ReviewTechnology ReviewTechnology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...
TR100TR35The TR35 is an annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.Some of the most famous winners of the award include Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Linus Torvalds , Jerry Yang , Jonathan Ive , Mark Zuckerberg...
as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35. - Wall Street Journal Innovation Awards, 2004 Gold Winner
- Research and Development RD100 Innovation Award, 2004 Winner
- Judge for the Wall Street Journal's Technology Innovation Awards since 2005.
Books
R. Ho, R. Drost, Coupled Data Communication Techniques for High-Performance and Low-Power Computing, Springer, 2010.External links
- New York Times Article on Proximity Communication
- VLSI Research group publications, Sun Microsystems Laboratories
- Contrarian Minds Sun Labs Article
Selected Publications
J. Mitchell, J. Cunningham, A.V. Krishnamoorthy, R. Drost, R. Ho, "Integrating novel packaging technologies for large-scale computer systems," to appear in 2009 ASME/Pacific Rim Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Systems, MEMS, and NEMS Conference (Interpack2009), June 2009.I. Shubin, E.M. Chow, J. Cunningham, D. DeBruyker, C. Chua, B. Cheng, J. Knights, K. Sahasrabuddhe, Y. Luo, A. Chow, J. Simons, A. Krishnamoorthy, R. Hopkins, R. Drost,
R. Ho, D. Douglas, J. Mitchell, "Novel Packaging with Rematable Spring Interconnect Chips for MCMs," to appear in 2009 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC2009), May 2009.
T. Sze, M. Giere, B. Guenin, N. Nettleton, D. Popovic, R. Drost, R. Hopkins, R. Ho, S. Bezuk, "Proximity interconnect flip-chip package with micron chip-to-chip alignment tolerances," to appear in 2009 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC2009), May 2009.
A. Chow, R. Hopkins, R. Drost, R. Ho, "Enabling Technologies for Multi-Chip Integration using Proximity Communication," 5th Annual IEEE Int'l Symposium on VLSI Design, Automation, and Test (VLSI-DAT2009), April 2009.
A. Chow, D. Hopkins, R. Drost, R. Ho, “Exploiting capacitance in high-performance computer systems,” IEEE Int'l Symposium on VLSI Design, Automation and Test, pp. 23–25, Apr. 2008.
A. Chow, D. Hopkins, R. Ho, R. Drost, “Measuring 6D Chip Alignment in Multi-Chip Packages,” IEEE Conference on Sensors, pp. 1307–1310, Oct. 2007.
X. Zheng, J. Lexau, J. Bergey, J.E. Cunningham, R. Ho, R. Drost, A.V. Krishnamoorthy, “Optical Transceiver Chips Based on Co-Integration of Capacitively Coupled Proximity Interconnects and VCSELs,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 19:7, pp. 453–5, Apr. 2007.
J. Lexau, X. Zheng, J. Bergey, A. Krishnamoorthy, R. Ho, R. Drost, J. Cunningham, “CMOS Integration of Capacitive, Optical, and Electrical Interconnects,” Proceedings of the International Interconnect Technology Conference, June 2007.
F. Liu, R. Ho, R. Drost, S. Fairbanks, “On-chip samplers for test and debug of asynchronous circuits,” IEEE International Symposium on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems, pp. 153–162, March 2007.
R. Ho, T. Ono, F. Liu, R. Hopkins, A. Chow, R. Drost, “High-Speed and Low-Energy Capacitively-Driven On-Chip Wires,” IEEE Int'l Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 412–3, Feb. 2007.
D. Hopkins, A. Chow, R. Bosnyak, B. Coates, J. Ebergen, S. Fairbanks, J. Gainsley, R. Ho, J. Lexau, F. Liu, T. Ono, J. Schauer, I. Sutherland, R. Drost, “Circuit Techniques to Enable 430Gb/s/mm2 Proximity Communication,” IEEE Int'l Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 368–9, Feb. 2007.
R. Drost, C. Forrest, B. Guenin, R. Ho, A.V. Krishnamoorthy, D. Cohen, J.E. Cunningham, B. Tourancheau, A. Zingher, A. Chow, G. Lauterbach, I. Sutherland, “Challenges in building a flat-bandwidth memory hierarchy for a large-scale computer with Proximity Communication,” High Performance Interconnects Symposium, pp. 13–22, Aug. 2005.
R. Drost, B. Wooley, “An 8-Gbps/pin Simultaneously Bidirectional Transceiver in 0.35-micron CMOS,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, pp. 1894–1908, Nov. 2004.
R. Drost, R. D. Hopkins, R. Ho, I. Sutherland, “Proximity Communication,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, pp. 1529–35, Sept. 2004.
A. V. Krishnamoorthy, D. Huang, T. Sze, R. Drost, R. Ho, H. L. Davidson and R. Lytel, "Challenges and Potentials for Multi-Terabit-Per-Second Optical Transceivers," Optical Interconnects and VLSI Photonics Conference, IEEE LEOS, June 2004.
R. Drost, "Proximity Communication," 3D Architectures for Semiconductor Integration and Packaging conference, RTI International Technology Venture Forum, Apr. 2004.
R. Ho, J. Gainsley, R. Drost, “Long Wires and Asynchronous Control,” IEEE Asynchronous Circuits and Systems Symposium, Apr. 2004.
R. Drost, R. Ho, R. D. Hopkins, I. Sutherland, “Electronic Alignment for Proximity Communication,” IEEE Int'l Solid-State Circuits Conference, Feb. 2004.
R. Drost, R. D. Hopkins, I. Sutherland, “Proximity Communications,” IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, pp. 469–472, Sept. 2003.
H. Hatamkhani, K-L. J. Wong, R. Drost, C-K. K. Yang, “A 10-mW 3.6-Gbps I/O Transmitter,” IEEE VLSI Circuits Symposium, pp. 97–98, June 2003.
W. Coates, R. Drost, “Congestion and Starvation Detection in Ripple FIFOs,” IEEE Asynchronous Circuits and Systems Symposium, pp. 36–45, May 2003.
S. Bardwaj, S.S. Mohan, R. Drost, B.T. Khuri-Yakub, K. Saraswat, “In-situ Film Thickness and Temperature Monitoring Using a 2 GHz Acoustic Phase Measurement System,” IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 965–967, Dec. 1991.